


Even After Death Do Us Part

by Arya_Orson



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, First Meetings, Mild Smut, Neglect, Personal Mythology, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-08-13 03:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20167726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arya_Orson/pseuds/Arya_Orson
Summary: What if the Spirit of Death isn't how you imagined them to be? What if they are bound to their fate just as much as you are?





	1. Prologue

In the earliest of time, there existed nothing but an all powerful being.

This being (or rather, god) named himself Primus, the First of All.

He didn't want to exist only for the sake of existing. So He created an expanding universe, endless, infinite. He created galaxies, stars, planets to decorate the void.  
He built High Heaven to reside himself.

Then, He created the Spirit of Life, Enmei.

Legend says that as soon as he came into being, Enmei knelt before Him, calling Him his King. To show his loyalty, Enmei created the evergreen Carnis Oak tree from his own flesh and crafted a crown from one of its branch. He gifted the crown to his King, conveying his faithfulness.

When Primus touched the crown, a splinter sticking out of it pricked His finger. Ichor oozed out of the cut and drenched the structure, malting the crown into a pool of liquid.

Heartbroken, Enmei wept at the sight in front of him, tears spilling. A stray tear found its way to the pool of flesh and blood and merged with it.

The liquid shimmered brightly, and Lady Fate emerged from it.

At her birth-spot, Primus built the holy Alter.

With both of their contribution Primus created hundreds of lesser gods and goddesses. All of them resided in High Heaven under the watchful eyes of Primus. He rulled over them all. He was worshipped, feared.  
He was their King.

Time went by. Many stars burned to their death, many stars were born across the universe, decorating it like confetti.

However, the lesser deities grew restless. Their greed and hunger for power only increased with time.

So they forged an alliance within themselves to dethrone their King.  
But alas, the King caught wind of their betrayal.

He was enraged. He decided to create the Spirit of Death for the sake of vengeance.  
At the sight of Primus's rage the deities begged for mercy, promising eternal submission and loyalty.

Primus took pity on them to not condemn them for eternity. He promised them of Afterlife, where they will have no duties, no responsibilities, only happiness and contentment. All of them will have the chance to enter the Field of Bliss in Afterlife, if they remain loyal.

Before the Afterlife begins, the Enmei will behead the Spirit of Dead with her own Scythe. As the notion of death disappears, the Spirit of Life will join the other deities at the Field of Bliss.

So He created Serene, the Spirit of Death. He resided her in the Underworld, a realm He created for the condemned and the banished spirits and souls.

Then, He created the world, enriching it with greenery, animals and vast oceans.  
Lastly, He created his favourite form of entertainment, humankind.

Thus, the world as we know it, came into being.


	2. [Character Introduction]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> • Not a chapter.
> 
> • Introduction of the main and side characters
> 
> • Will update with more characters as the story  
progresses.

**Main characters** :

**Aaru**

Name: Serene, Irene, Aaru  
Appearance: female, early twenties  
Pseudo appearance: cat, pitch black  
Status: Embodiment of Death

**Tao**

Name: Enmei, Victum, Tao  
Appearance: male, mid twenties  
Status: Embodiment of Life

**Primus**

Name: First of All, Primus, Theo  
Appearance: male, early thirties  
Status: King

**Side characters** :

**Sophia**

Name: Sage, Sophia

Appearance: female, mid twenties

Status: Lady Fate

**Yaki**

Appearance : male, early thirties

Status : God of War

**Neriwa**

Appearance : gender-fluid, mid-twenties

Status : Deity of Tricks and Schemes

**Jun**

Name : Yuuma, Denzin

Appearance : male, mid-twenties

Status : God and Personification of Truth and Harmony


	3. First Meeting - Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tao and Aaru's first meeting from Tao's perpective.

The first time Tao meets Aaru, she is a baby.  
Literally.

He is kneeling in front of his King, along with Lady Fate. They have gathered there to create an immortal, the last of their kind.  
At His Highness's command Lady Fate, or as Tao knows her, Sophia rises to break a branch from the evergreen Carnis Oak. She places it on the alter in front of the King and lights it aflame with a flick of her wrist. Tao gets up next. Prickling his palm with his fingernail, he lets his ichor drip onto the cold heat of the wood.

When the flame burns higher, brighter with his ichor, he steps back to retrieve his position behind the king. Straight posture, eyes downcast, he waits until the flame leaves nothing but pitch black ash.

Soon the fire dies down and His Grace steps closer to the alter. Gathering the scatterd ash into a pile, King Primus utters a single word.  
"Be."

Chills running down their spines, goosebumps rising across their skin, the two lesser deities feels shaken to their core. No matter how many times they had been a part of this ritual, it always leaves them in awe.

Tao recovers quickly and braces himself for the arrival of the Spirit of the Dead. He is excited to finally meet someone like his own caliber. He himself is the strongest amont all the deities of heaven. So he muses its only fair his counterpart would be just as strong, if not more.  
Millenia after millenia, he had been alone. He was respected as the First Born, worshipped as the Spirit of Life, admired as the strongest.

Nobody deemed themselves worthy enough to stand by him.  
He was always the one in front.  
Obeyed and left alone.

But that is about to change. He is to have someone who will share the burden with him. At the very least, he will have someone who will understand him.

He is startled out of his thought bubble at the soft pitter-patter of footsteps.  
The Spirit of the dead has risen from his Kings command.

He inhales a shakey breath to steady himself. He looks up to welcome his brethren only to find a kitten.

A tiny, pitch-black kitten with soft looking fur.  
It stumbles forward on the alter and looks at them with expressive eyes.

Cute.  
Cute and oh so innocent.

Disappointment washes over Tao in waves after waves.  
This is his counterpart? He waited millenia after millenia for an equal and this is what he gets? This tiny ball of fluff is supposed to be his equivalent?

Unbelievable.

He straightens up and holds his head high, anger boiling in his gut. He wonders if this is King's way of punishing him for not notifying him of the 'coup'. Nonetheless, he has to be composed at the presence of his King. So he bottles up his emotions, schools his expression and stares straight ahead.

The kitten looks even smaller than before. His highness scoops it up and deposits on Sophia's hands.  
"Make sure she knows what her role is and knows how to do it. Take her away."

Both of them leaves High Heaven together, Sophia clutching the kitten close to her. As soon as they're outside, Tao yells out angrily and stomps his foot. Yet, his antics are met with an amused expression (from Sophia) and a curious glance (from the kitten).

Tao stares at the kitten, scowling. Sophia asks him with an insufferable grin, "So I take it you probably won't be around to help Aaru train?"

Tao seethes at Sophia, "Shut. Up."

He scowls at the kitten ( or Aaru, as Sophia had called her) even harder and flicks at his forehead. He didn't really want to hurt her. But the kitten is tiny and Tao is a tall, tall man with musdirected anger issues so the flick might have been a bit harshar than intended. Aaru yelps and wetness gather at her eyes, ears drooping.

Tao feels bad. Then feels even angrier for feeling bad. It isn't his fault she's weak.

He can't help but scoff. This tiny ball of fluff is going to wield the Scythe? Oh please.

At least beheading the worthless ball of sunshine will be justified.  
She doesn't deserve to be the Spirit of the Dead.


	4. First Meeting - Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tao and Aaru's first meeting, from Aaru's perspective.

Aaru doesn't remember much from her first meeting with Tao.

She was just a newborn, trying her best not trip over herself. The first thing she saw after opening her eyes was the King.

She tried to kneel and show her respect and loyalty to him, she really did. But her limbs weren't co-ordinated enough with her brain due to her infant status. So instead of bowing her head and kneeling, her tiny body decided to tumble forward.

Humiliating, yes, she knows.

That was when she saw Tao.

He was standing next to the King, eyes downcast, back straight. At the soft noises of Aaru tumbling forward, he looked up and spotted her.

He looked like a marvellous statue, hands clasped together, face void of any expression.

But his eyes were expressive enough for Aaru to know what he was feeling.

At first, it was excitement, then confusion and surprise.  
Lastly, all of it morphed into disappointment.

Aaru felt her heart plummet.

Granted, she was just a newborn, she was still a goddess. She should be more graceful, more confident, more resilient. More divine.

She did not know who the celestial stranger was, but she understood his disappointment. He expected someone adequate, someone worthy, someone who was not so clumsy that they couldn't walk properly, someone who wouldn't get overwhelmed by a mere audience of three.  
He expected someone who was not her.

Aaru shrank in on herself under his scrutiny. She was not left to mope by herself for long. The king scooped her up from the alter and deposited her on the other deity's hand who she unintentionally ignored earlier.

After the King dismissed them, the deities bowed and left the King's presence. As soon as they left the King's Quarters, the male deity yells out and stomps his feet.  
Startled by the outburst, Aaru stares.

He bares his teeth to the other deity and scowls at Aaru, anger swirling in his eyes. He reached out his hand to her and flicked her in between her eyes.

Aaru was not expecting to get hit. So the sharp pain ringing through her skull makes her jump and mewl involuntarily. With tears prickling at her eyes she watched him stomp away.

He resented her, Aaru realized.

As she was carried away, the dull ache on her forehead matched the lump she felt on her throat.

Aaru doesn't remember much from her first meeting with Tao.  
But she remembers how dejected she felt.  
She remembers the sharp pain in between her eyes that left a dull pain in its wake.  
She remembers the lump lodged down her throat.

Mostly, she remembers the disappointment she saw in Tao's eyes.


	5. De Trop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters appear in this chapter.
> 
> Yaki - God of War  
Neriwa - Deity of Tricks and Schemes

The first millenia of Aaru's life is filled with learning.

Sofia teaches her to speak.  
But not just one language, no. Aaru has to learn the Holy Tongue of High Heaven, the brutish language of the Underworld, the thousand languages of human, of birds and beasts.  
After all, she has to roam around all three realms.

Yaki teaches her how to fight.  
Aaru learns to fight with swords. She learns to fight with daggers and knives. How to throw them, how to evade. She learns to shoot arrows. Or break them, if they're pointed at her. She learns to throw a spear, learns to use axes to cut down on flesh and bones.

She learns to fight bare-handed. She learns to use her fists and the heels of her feet. She learns to bend her knee at a precise angle so it would dig into her opponents ribs. She learns to put her weight behind her fist.  
She learns how to use her fingertips to render a person immobile.

She learns to wield the Scythe. She learns to banish a deity's spirit to the Underworld. She learns to crush a demon's aura. She learns to slay a human's connection with its soul.

Enmei, or rather Tao, is supposed to teach her the meaning of life. He is supposed to teach her how to be the embodiment of an abstract notion.  
But he doesn't show his face to her.

Aaru learns that she is disliked by her counterpart, since _hatred_ is too strong of a word.

Neriwa teaches her to be cunning.  
Aaru learns to devise strategies to outwit her enemies, to be victorious in battles. She learns to be sneaky, to gather information and figure out the weaknesses of her opponents even they are unaware of. She learns to disarm her enemies with her words. She learns to speak in a certain tone to dishearten and break others for her own gain.

She learns and learns.  
When she feels like she's going to crumble from all this knowledge, when she thinks she's about to _break_, Primus asks for her.

At High Heaven, among the Council of Immortals, Primus deems her ready to carry the heavy burden of Death. He hands her the Scythe, orders her to fulfil her role, to bear her responsibilities.

At the weight of the Scythe, Aaru's muscles ache and knees buckle. Prayers for mercy, pleas for reprieves hushes through her ears, making her head swim.  
But she grits her teeth and stands straight, as Primus officially introduces her to the gods and goddesses.

She looks around the Council, all of them expressionless, face carefully void of emotion. But they're eyes convey their feelings, just like Tao's had all those years ago.

She reads them like a scroll of paper.

Resentment. Pity. Anger. Confusion. Fear. Apathy. Irritation.

Her heart sinks into her stomach, but she doesn't cower under their hostile gaze. Aaru can't change who she is. She doesn't have a choice but to be the Spirit of Death, even if she loathes herself for it.  
So she stares back at them, unyielding and unapologetic. Some of them glare back, some of them look away.

That day, Aaru learns that even though she is important, irreplaceable, she is _unwanted_.


	6. Horrid Creatures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New character appears in this chapter.
> 
> Jun - God and Personification of Truth and Harmony
> 
> And Neriwa is genderfluid, unless written from Neriwa's pov, Neriwa's pronouns are 'they', 'them' and 'their'.

The entire Council is clouded with thick tension after Primus introduces Aaru, which lasts until the very end of the court.

When Aaru was still in training, she used to think that the demi-decade court itself lasted for days since her guides would be gone weeks at a time.

So imagine her surprise when Primus adjourns the court soon after one day stretches out onto the next. The Council leaves His presence and Aaru expects them to return to their residence only to find them walking towards Fields of Bliss, the lowest ground of High Heaven.

Confused, Aaru trails behind them. She waits until she can find a familiar face to ask questions since most of the deities had hostile reactions towards her during her introduction. Scanning the crowd, she finds Lady Fate walking beside Neriwa, chatting pleasantly.

Aaru walks faster and places herself beside them. Both Sophia and Neriwa turns to greet her with a smile. Aaru hesitantly asks, "Where are we going?"

Sophia answers, "To the the Fields of Bliss."

Aaru counters, "Why there? The court has been adjourned. We should return to our residence."

Neriwa arches a perfect brow at her, "Then what about the after-party? Half of the deities come to court only to attend the party, you know."

Aaru feels so confused, she had never learned this word.

"What's an after-party?"

Neriwa and Sophia shares a look with each other and both of them turns to her. Sophia starts first, "Usually, every time after the court is dismissed, all the deities gathers in the Fields of Bliss to destress, to unwind. We mingle and gossip around, try to free ourselves from the pressure of our duties."

Neriwa finishes their thought, "We basically celebrate another successful court. Come, you will see for yourself."

Intrigued, Aaru accepts the invitation. In her entire life she has never had a reason to celebrate anything. She was way too busy learning how to be worthy to find momentary joy.

When the trio arrives at the Field, Neriwa seems to be looking for someone among the scatterd deities. Soon their face lights up as they finds a deity Aaru is unfamiliar with and trails after him like a lost puppy, following him towards their residence. Aaru turns to Sophia, questions in her eyes as Neriwa leaves the Fields of Bliss with him.

"That's Jun, he's the god of truth. Neriwa only has eyes for him." Sophia answers.

Aaru tilts her head, "Like acquaintances?"

Sophia tries not to laugh at her face and helpfully explains, "Like lovers."

Aaru stares at Sophia, "What's that?"

Sophia stares back, with that odd look in her eyes which was directed way too often at her. As if Sophia feels sad for Aaru, sad that she grew up in solititude, only having contact with inanimate objects and mentors during her lessons. The same look that Neriwa gave her when they learned of her fate.

It makes her feel inadequate and Aaru turns sharply, choosing to disappear within the crowd.

Sophia doesn't call after her.

Aaru walks around the Fields and observes. All of her mentors except Neriwa and that other deity Jun, are present here, but none of them are in condition to engage in pleasant conversations.

The 'after-party' is unsophisticated at best and downright barbaric at worst. Fountains of liquor, music with boorish beats pounding in ears and deities performing utterly immoral acts repulses Aaru. Some deities are downing liquor and using utterly perverse language at each other, eager to partake in a brawl. Some are engaged in fornication, immodest, shameless, twisted. Some are trying to rip each other apart with fangs and bare hands with an eager audience cheering their audacity.

Aaru feels disgust and repugnance crawling in her veins. She had always been a goddess strongly associated with ethics, integrity, chastity. So when Aaru finally sees her counterpart again, after all these years, in the midst of it all, as the most sought after god in this repulsive 'celebration', she finds that she feels nothing but utter hatred and disgust towards the God of Life.

Even Sophia, drowning under vile hands and lips of corrupted gods and goddesses, nauseats Aaru. She stumbles towards the residential area of high-heaven, needing to get away from it all so that she can breathe again. Aaru clutches her scythe in her hands and hurries her pace, wanting to leave as soon as her feet allows.

What disgusting abominations these deities are.

**Author's Note:**

> If you are reading this, then thank you for reading all the way through.  
This is my first work ever (and english is not even my first language) so if you can, please point out the mistakes in comment section.
> 
> Constructive critism is always welcome. Please share your thoughts on my heart-vomit.


End file.
